No matter how arrogant and self-assured Deidara was, he wasn't completely reckless.
If the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki could withstand his earlier barrage, then a more serious test was in order.
"Let's see how you handle this… C2," he muttered.
He slid his right hand into the clay pouch at his side. The grinning mouth in his palm bit down on a lump of white clay, chewing it quickly and methodically until the raw material shaped itself into a small humanoid figure.
Adjusting the angle of his clay bird mid-flight, Deidara hurled the figure down toward Naruto.
"I want to see you block this!"
"Click!"
The C2 model swelled in an instant, its white surface glowing with blinding light—
Naruto slammed his hands together. "Senpō — Fūton: Kaiten Arashi!"
A roaring funnel of wind burst into existence around him, whirling at incredible speed. The spiraling wall of air was tight and unbroken, reminiscent of the Hyūga clan's defensive rotation, but driven by the power of nature energy.
Boom!
Boom!
The detonation rocked the landscape, flattening trees and leaving the surrounding area hundreds of meters in ruins.
When the smoke began to thin, the protective tornado dissipated, revealing Naruto completely unharmed within.
Deidara's smirk faltered. "Tch… you're not just some ordinary brat." His eyes narrowed. "But don't think that was all I've got."
Naruto didn't reply. His fingers formed a cross-shaped seal.
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"
In a burst of chakra, the forest floor became packed with Naruto clones—more than a hundred.
The air trembled as each clone leapt upward toward Deidara, their right hands raised, spiraling spheres of blue chakra swelling larger and larger until they glowed like miniature suns.
"Senpō — Chō Ōdama Rasengan!" the chorus of Naruto shouted.
Hundreds of massive, roaring spheres. The sheer number made Deidara's scalp prickle.
How much chakra does this guy have…?
For the first time, Deidara's easy grin cracked into a snarl. "Don't underestimate me, you damn kid!"
But even he knew—facing that many attacks head-on was suicide. His clay bird veered sharply away, retreating in a streak of white.
The Rasengan storm followed.
Boom. Boom. Boom.
Explosions shook the sky one after another, detonations rolling through the air without pause.
Far below, the real Naruto stood still, watching the blasts light up the treeline. His true aim wasn't to destroy Deidara outright—it was to force him back, to pull the fight away from where Gaara's body lay. The scope of their battle was dangerous enough; Gaara didn't need to be caught in the middle of it.
Naruto also knew something else: Chiyo-baasama had a forbidden technique that could trade her life for another's. If Gaara could be returned to her alive, even without his bijū, there might still be hope.
As the last of the Rasengan barrage faded, the clay bird above was nowhere to be seen—nothing but drifting dust and white powder where it had been.
But Naruto wasn't fooled. He'd already sent ten shadow clones to secure Gaara's body.
Sure enough, behind a thick tree trunk, Deidara crouched on one knee, panting hard. "Damn… the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki is something. That chakra pool is insane…"
His eyes slid toward the treeline, where he knew Gaara had been taken. "Hn. Well, the One-Tail's gone from him already. Even if they saved the body, it doesn't matter."
Naruto gently laid Gaara on the ground a safe distance away. He'd guessed from the start that Deidara had used a clay clone to escape the Rasengan storm.
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"
Eight more clones appeared, sprinting through the undergrowth toward a cluster of trees.
Deidara spotted them instantly. His right palm split into a grin, spitting out a small clay sphere that zipped through the air—
Click.
Boom!
The clones vanished in puffs of smoke.
But Deidara's satisfaction vanished a second later when a shadow loomed over him. Above, another Naruto—one that had been biding his time—descended with a massive spiraling sphere in hand.
"Senpō — Chō Ōdama Rasengan!"
"Doton: Moguragakure no Jutsu!" Deidara's hands blurred through seals, his body sinking into the ground and blending with the earth just as the Rasengan slammed into it, leaving a crater over ten meters across.
Naruto didn't need a Sharingan to track him. Sage Mode's perception was sharper than sight. He felt Deidara's chakra signature moving beneath the surface, angling toward him.
Naruto's palm filled with swirling chakra once more, and without hesitation, he smashed it directly into the ground.
"—Tch!" Deidara burst from the earth, narrowly escaping. The moment's delay would have been fatal.
Even without fully understanding the technique, he knew enough—this Rasengan was pure, condensed destruction. Reckless amounts of chakra molded into a perfect sphere. The only other person he'd seen wield chakra so extravagantly was Kisame Hoshigaki.
And yet, the boy before him…
Hundreds of shadow clones. Each clone used high-level, high-cost jutsu as if chakra were endless.
Deidara's thoughts sharpened. This wasn't just a jinchūriki. This was a shadow-level opponent—and one of the most dangerous kinds.
One wrong move, and he might not walk away.
Naruto's voice was steady. "No matter where you hide… I'll find you."
The words hit Deidara like a shuriken to the gut. For an instant, his mind flashed back to another fight, another nightmare—Uchiha Itachi's voice telling him something eerily similar.
Invisible to the Sharingan back then. Now… hunted by the eyes of Sage Mode.
It was enough to make his teeth grind.
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A/N: New Fanfic Is Out "Luffy Asked Me To Join His Crew!!!"
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